Sonic myths
by Kenyan Kitty
Summary: When a strange forces causes the chaos emeralds' abilities to change, they also transform the ones that come into contact with them. Just what is going on? (Most likely dropped, I lost interest and it became too dull.)
1. prologue: mystic forces gather

It was a late spring night when it happened.

Seven streaks of light shot across the cloudy night skies. If you'd use your imagination, it would almost seem like they were looking for something, as they all descended towards the ground when they reached a certain area.

Their 'destination' was the floating Angel island, where eight gems of extraordinary value were kept and guarded on an ancient altar.  
>The gems, better known as the chaos emeralds, had been the bringers of destruction many times before when their powers had been used for evil, but also has caused the salvation of the world when used by people who could control their massive power.<p>

When the streaks hit the stones they started glowing harder, waking up their guardian. The red lone echidna first felt annoyed and disgruntled by being disturbed from his sleep so abruptly, but this changed when he noticed the strange activity in the emeralds.  
>When the island started to shake and rumble Knuckles was swept off his feet, he had to think of something, quick.<p>

He carefully got back up and faced the giant green emerald sitting in the center of the altar, raised his arms while reciting a chant in some ancient tongue. When master emerald started to glow, the chaos emeralds stopped. Knuckles let out a sigh of relief when everything started to have seemed to have calmed down. But his relief wouldn't last long; before he well realized it, six of the seven emeralds with one more flash of bright light, they were gone.  
>"Chaos control..." He whispered.<p>

Then the red one that was left behind fell from its pedestal in the grass. Knuckles picked it up but he suddenly felt an electric jolt shoot into his body. It glowed one more time and suddenly it showed the image of a flame on the top, almost like it was engraved in the stone.

Just what was going on here?


	2. Three emeralds found

The next morning Sonic woke up while laying on a high branch in an old blooming beech tree.  
>He kept his eyes closed, but could already smell the sweet scent of thousands of the small white flowers that surrounded him along with the crisp smell of a last night's storm. The buzzing music of countless insects feasting on the blossoms' nectar ringed in his ears. He slowly opened his eyes and saw beams of sunlight creeping through the petals of the flowers. He stretched his arms in the air and took a moment to get a grasp on his surroundings.<p>

Last night he was surprised by a heavy rainstorm and took shelter in this high tree, but by the time he was up there it was already too dark to see how beautiful this chosen spot was. The blue hedgehog had always been in love with the beauty of nature, and would do anything to protect her beauty one way or another. Which was quite contradictory to his liking towards modern city area's.

Suddenly sonic felt an uncomfortable warm and damp sensation in his coat and decided it was time to go. He swiftly climbed the twelve foot tall tree down, jumping from branch to branch. When he was back on the ground he shook the access water from his fur. Sonic then noticed something shiny laying at the base of the tree. He went to take a closer look and couldn't believe his eyes; it was the dark blue chaos emerald. Weren't they supposed to be collected on angel island?  
>He bent down and picked it up, but dropped it after he got a shock. "Auch..." He looked at the gem again and suddenly noticed there was something engraved on the top of it. It was hard to make out, but two pigeon wings were depicted on the emerald.<p>

Meanwhile Tails was about to get on with his day as he stepped outside. He was just walking over to his engine house to start the day's work as he stepped in something sharp. While cursing himself about cutting that grass a long time ago he noticed he stepped in a yellow gem. "A chaos emerald? But how-" The young fox got zapped by the emerald as he held it in his hand. He then saw a pentagram appearing on the surface of the gem. "what the-?" ...

That night Shadow was just relaxing on the rooftop of his apartment building. He didn't really expect himself to live a settled life like this, but the secret agent thing was an interesting job, and it paid well. Besides, it's not like him to be a drifting hobo sleeping outside like an animal every night like his blue counterpart. He was actually waiting for Rouge, she'd been saying Shadow needed to get his mind off his work for a while so she invited shadow over for some party.

He wasn't much of a party goer but it was with Rouge, so he'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to it a little bit.

"Ready to go?" Rouge said, who had sneaked up on him from behind. Shadow turned around and was absolutely stunned by her looks. The bat was wearing a tight, low-cut, silver studded pink shirt with a short, blue frilly skirt and stylish, colorful high heeled shoes.

"You're looking flashy today." Shadow said with a smile on his face. "You don't look too shabby either..." She was right, Shadow obviously spent a lot of time grooming his fur, and was even wearing his 'rider sneakers', a shirt with tribal patterns on it, and his green sunshades.

That's when he noticed something shimmering in the corner of his eye. He came closer but couldn't believe his eyes as he did. "The gray emerald? What's it doing here? Rouge said while picking it from the floor. She handed Shadow the emerald who got a shock.

"Ah!"

"Shadow, are you okay?" "I'm fine, but- What the-?" suddenly the drawing of a Gothic cross etched itself in the emerald.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Shadow asked concerned, but got distracted by Rouge who took a hold of his arm. "We'll figure it out tomorrow, I thought we were supposed to have fun tonight? Besides it's peace-time, no one will come looking for it anyway." She said tempting.

"I'll just put it somewhere safe just to be sure..."

Three remained undiscovered...


	3. The transformation begins

Rouge had taken Shadow to one of her favorite dance bars, and he seemed to enjoy himself. But around 2 AM he started feeling unwell. Rouge reckoned he just wasn't great at holding his liquor, but if that was the case he would've knocked out a long time ago.

"Hey, Shadow, you okay?" The black hedgehog nodded and took a deep breath before finishing the brightly colored drink he was holding. When he put the glass down on the bar a sudden sharp pain shot trough his head. Rouge knew something was up, so she took his hand and pulled him through the crowd over to the exit.

When the both of them were outside Rouge grabbed Shadow's shoulders if she hadn't done that, he surely would've fallen straight to the ground.

"This is no use. C'mon, I'll take you home..."

As soon as Rouge opened the door Shadow just pushed her out of the way and ran to the bathroom, knocking over a lamp as he did.

She just sighed; threw her keys on the table, took a seat in a nearby couch and started looking around.  
>The place was clean, organized, and had an interesting style. Much leather, like the couch, and pieces of metal coated furniture here and there. It was just obvious it was a biker that was living here. Rouge undid her shoes and rubbed the soles of her feet against the soft surface of the carpet.<p>

She then heard the toilet getting flushed and Shadow walked back into the room; still looking bad.

"Feeling better?" He took off the shirt he was wearing, revealing three bumps on his back, following his spine. "What are those?" He had no idea... "My jaw, eyes and back hurts, I've got a raging headache, I just threw up and still feel sick...Ugh." Shadow complained.  
>"I didn't even know you could get sick in the first place."<p>

He dimmed the lights a bit and went to sit next to his friend, kicked off his shoes as he laid back on the couch. Rouge turned around and placed one leg behind shadow and gently pulled his shoulder down, so he'd lay on his side, resting on top of Rouge's stomach.

She stroked trough his quills and seemed to be able to calm the black hedgehog down a little.

"You'll be okay..."

The next morning Tails had just come out of the shower. One thing he hated about spring was that it was 'shedding season' and needed at least an hour a day just to get his fluffy coat groomed. But something was not right this time; he noticed that there was a spot on the back of his head where the hairs got longer in oppose to falling out. While giving himself a final brushing he heard his doorbell ring. He shouted he'd be right there and quickly made his way downstairs, not even bothering to put on his shoes or gloves..

He opened the door to find his best friend standing in his doorstep.

"Sonic! Ehm, what are you doing here so early?" Without saying a word, he pulled out the blue emerald. The young fox dropped a jaw. "You found one too?" He said excited. "Did you?"

Tails invited Sonic in and went to the kitchen, a few minutes later he joined Sonic at the table with the yellow emerald in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. "I literally stepped on this yesterday, but there was something odd about it-" "You got a shock when you wanted to pick it up and some strange drawing appeared on it?" Sonic interrupted.

"How did y-" "It happened to me yesterday too."

They swapped the gems and examined the symbols. "A pair of wings and a pentagram... what could it mean?" Tails said while stirring through his tea.

Sonic then noticed his fingers slipping off the spoon and started making subtle circling motions. But the metal object would perfectly follow every move.

Tails noticed Sonic's gaping. "How do you do that?" The fox looked down at his hand and jumped up. He pulled back his hand and stared at the cup. "I... Don't know." He answered with a hint of fear in his voice. He looked up to Sonic and suddenly noticed his quills hung lower than usual, and they had light streaks on them. Though it was hard to make out if he wasn't sitting in direct sunlight.

"Have you noticed your quills are slanted?" Sonic ran his hand trough them as the ones on the front were almost hanging straight down in front of his arms. "Of course, I just don't know how it became that way... perhaps it's just how they grow? Considering how Amy's have changed over the years." He said, trying to make sense of it.

"Yes, but she didn't get colored streaks in them..." Tails said while taking a close look at them. While doing this he noticed two lumps on Sonic's back, above his back spines. "Sonic, does your back hurt at all?" The blue hedgehog raised a brow. Why would he ask him that?

"It's just that there are two lumps here, and I can't tell what it is..." Sonic felt back there and jumped up a little. "Wow, feels big, what is it?"  
>"No clue..." Tails was getting anxious about all of this. He moved back to his seat and reached for his cup. But instead of picking it up, yellow flash suddenly shot from his fingertips, sending the piece of china flying, and breaking to smithereens against the wall.<br>While he was staring at the shattered remains, absolutely gobsmacked, Sonic noticed Tails' emerald had been glowing. He then grabbed the emeralds, took his friend's hand and dragged him to the field outside.

"Okay, the emeralds must have something to do with this, and what ever it is they're doing; you got some power over it." "Huh? What do you-"  
>"That spoon and flash trick was easy-"<br>"Trick? You think it's just a-"  
>"But what if you concentrated a moment... Let's see what you can do." Sonic said while passing him the emerald.<p>

And so he held the emerald with both hands against his chest and concentrated on the gem. Suddenly he was surrounded by a wall of light. Sonic couldn't see what was happening in there...  
>Inside it was dark, and Tails saw a figure appear in the form of liquid looking light, erupted from the emerald. It kind of looked like him, but was dressed in some kind of robes and it had no visible pupils in its eyes, or any other detailed facial features for that matter. It lay its right palm on Tails' Forehead. "Awaken..." And with a flash it disappeared again.<p>

With a rush of wind the shield of light faded, blinding Sonic a little.  
>When he was able to look again he saw his friend laying uncontentious in the grass, with the emerald still locked in his hand. He rushed to his side, and noticed Tails was suddenly dressed in hooded green robes with the drawing of a pentagram embroidered on the back in golden and black thread, and decorative symbols on the hem and sleeves. He was also wearing high leather sandals, and leather fingerless gloves.<br>He looked taller, had two silver earrings pierced in his right ear and had a long braid on the back of his head that almost reached his knees.

"Tails? Tails! Wake up, buddy..." Sonic said while shaking his friend's shoulder.  
>After a while Tails groaned and slowly sat up. He looked up and smiled at Sonic while holding his head with one hand. "How's that for a trick?" Tails immediately grabbed his throat in shock. He sounded way deeper and more mature. He then noticed the strange apparel he was wearing and the long braid.<p>

"What's going on here?" Tails said scared. "Well, you got surrounded by a ball of light, and when you came out, you looked like this..." Sonic said while pulling his friend to his feet, he was just as tall as him now. "Wow..."

"What?"

"It's nothing, well, actually, you look way older now for some reason." Sonic said carefully. Tails thought for a moment. "I wonder..." He looked at a rock laying not too far away from them. He pointed his hand at it and concentrated for a second. Suddenly the rock just blasted apart. Tails flinched a bit when it did and didn't know how to feel.

"I need a mirror." He said with a faint smile.


	4. A m m m monster!

Meanwhile, Shadow still didn't feel any better than he did last night. Rouge decided to stay with him until he was healed up. He was wandering around the house for a while with the familiar feeling of not knowing what to do with oneself when ill.

He walked by a certain cabinet and suddenly felt his sickness fading. "Could it be?..." He reached inside the drawer and took out the emerald he found yesterday.

Shadow closed his eyes for a moment, smiling as he felt his pain fade away. But then he saw he was surrounded by darkness when he opened them again. The emerald started glowing and a dark figure appeared in the form of gray smoke. Shadow remained calm and just watched the winged creature as it stared at it with glowing red eyes.

It then jumped up to him, disappearing into his chest.

Like possessed Shadow was forced to his knees. A sharp screeching noise hurt in his ears. He reached for them but when he arched his back in pain the bumps on his back burst open to make place for three horn-like spines.

His legs changed shape as they turned into those of a digtigrade.  
>While trying to block out the pain, he felt his fangs grow and nails turn into claws, sharp enough to rip through his gloves. Shadow tried so hard to fight it but it was no use. A pair of heavy metal cuffs strained his movement. But he was able to pull the chain apart by pulling as hard as he possibly could.<p>

And lastly a pair of large wings sprouted on his back, and his tail extended to almost six times its regular size. He screamed before finally passing out, returning to the real world.

Later, Rouge was back. She just went to the store to get some things for Shadow. But while unpacking she noticed he was being incredibly quiet. "Maybe he's sleeping..." She thought as she walked to the bedroom door. She creaked it open but was slammed shut before she could see anything.

"Go away..." Shadow said with a terrible shiver in his voice. "Shadow? What happened?" She then saw the drawer the chaos emerald was kept in was open.  
>"Does it have anything to do with the emerald?" He then reckoned there was no point in hiding from her, she was too involved already. And if anyone was going to help him it'd be her...<p>

"Something... went horribly wrong..." He said, still shivering.

Rouge didn't get it, what went wrong?

"The emerald somehow eased the pain, but before I knew it I..." "You what?" Shadow released the grip he had on the door-handle and went to sit on his bed.

The bat slowly opened the door and just slapped her hand across her mouth and her eyes widened by what she saw. "Please... don't look at me like that..."

Rouge tried to adjust her expression as she circled around him.

Shadow's transformation was a nasty one, he had broken shackles on his wrists and ankles, his gloves were torn and fur was rugged. His smooth markings looked more like tribal tattoos now and his legs looked painfully arched because of the shift in his knees. The three spikes on his back had a bone-like structure to them, and were a pale gray. And his sharp looking tail limply hung from the side of the bed.  
>And then of course there were the wings...<p>

The quills on his back had to make place for two large black-skinned wings. Unlike Rouge's these were his larger, and had very distinct arches where the joints are located. She then noticed dried blood stains at the base of the spikes, the wings, his claws, and on the side of his mouth. When he gasped for air she saw his fangs had grown drastically and were still bleeding a little.

"What happened to you..." She said, just loud enough to hear. Tears ran from Shadow's eyes, he didn't know...

"I turned into a monster..." He whispered. Rouge had no idea what to do, or how to act, because he really looked monstrous.

Especially because she feared something similar might happen to her...

"I found an emerald too..." Shadow looked up in surprise. Rouge went to take her bag as shadow tried to follow, but his legs were too awkward and hurt too much to move properly so she told him to just stay right there.

When she came back she pulled out the purple emerald. "I got a shock too..." "I guess that explains why mine didn't."  
>The emerald had a plain square cross on it. "I found it laying on my windowsill, I'm afraid the same might happen to me." She said scared. Shadow tossed the emerald aside and pulled Rouge closer, he remembered how much it all hurt, and wouldn't want this to happen to her.<br>"I won't let that happen, Rouge. Not if I can't help it."

...Two emeralds remain...

.

.

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_**.:author's notes:.  
><strong>Now Shadow's transformed as well now, but what did he turn into? Only I know that yet. (make an educated guess ^^ And to Oceanbreeze7: No, it's not a vampire, because that would obviously be a too obvious and lame choice.) And what do you people think so far?_

_And no, I'm not shipping Shadow and Rouge together, since Shadow is (in my eyes) completely asexual and isn't interested in that sort of thing, and their relationship is more like that of brother/sister. They care an awefull lot but it's not love._


	5. Paranormal encounter

It had been just a few days since Tails' transformation and he found many interesting attributes and abilities with his new powers and body, even if he didn't understand them.  
>Sonic didn't trust a thing of it, and stuck around to keep a close eye on it. They were just sitting outside on the porch one night. Tails looked up to the white full moon and smiled. "We've got to figure out what's going on, Tails..."<p>

The fox sighed. "I know. But I don't know where to start looking. And don't forget, this might happen to you too." Sonic hadn't even thought of that, but he was right. And who knows what he'd turn into.

"Maybe Knuckles knows something about this? He is the guardian of the emeralds after all." Sonic thought for a moment, Knuckles may not be a pentacle of wisdom in any way, but he was bound to know at least something. "I guess he'd be glad to see me." He joked.

Something Tails hadn't told Sonic was that ever since the transformation he heard... noises in his head. A distorted voice trying to communicate with him. He didn't tell his friend about it, because the last thing he wanted was Sonic to start worrying even more about him.

Later that night Tails was asleep, when suddenly he was woken up because he heard strange music coming from outside. He looked out of the window and saw a hooded glowing figure playing a violin, surrounded by fireflies.

Quickly and silently he went outside and tried to sneak up to the figure through the tall grass. The music it played was beautiful and bewitching.  
>Tails just stood there, behind it as more fireflies gathered. Suddenly the figure took a glance over its shoulder and started running. Tails followed in pursuit. Shorty he found himself wandering a vast forest, following the music. And soon enough he had found it.<p>

On an open space, right in the middle the figure was playing again.

There was no doubt about it, this was the same figure he saw when he transformed with the emerald. He inched closer and suddenly the music stopped.

"Miles Prower, is it not?" The figure said, looking over his shoulder. "How do you know my name?" The figure beckoned Tails to move closer, as the glowing stopped.

He took off his hood and revealed a handsome young man. Though human, it had everything the transformed Tails had too. They also shared the same blue eyes. "What are you?"

"My name is Alan, I'm a mage..." "I don't understand..."

The boy lay his hand on Tails' shoulder. "I didn't expect you to. I brought you here because I needed you to understand what's happening." He said before sitting down. Tails followed.

"My spirit fused with you when your heart and mind was opened. The shock you got was the first connection, when you were concentrated enough on the emerald, I had the chance to fuse." He explained. "But why me?" "You are the one who resembles me the most when I was still alive. You possess great intelligence." Tails didn't really feel very smart at this moment, he didn't get any of this... "The only big difference was that you are nine years younger than me, so your physical age changed, your body is seventeen now."

"So, wait, you are dead?" Alan looked down. "I'm afraid so. I was attacked by an evil creature a ages ago. I'm from an empire from another world. But unlike this one where everything is limited to laws of nature, ours is changeable, and less bounded to those laws and therefore some of our citizens had traveled on to other worlds. Like this one." He looked around, admiring his surroundings. "It's just so much more fascinating to see how worlds develop without the help of magic or anything. Some of the ones who traveled off have become legendary." Tails raised a brow to that statement. Alan just smiled at his reaction. "Where do mythological creatures come from?" He asked.

Tails couldn't believe it... But he had no choice. "Why did you fuse with me?" He said wile looking away. "Because I'm afraid that what killed me and my allies is planning to take over this world. Perhaps even destroy it..."

"I gave all my abilities to you, so when it happens, you'll be able to fight it off for good. You just need to find my allies first, and do it quick, there may not be much time left..."

He suddenly reached for his head in a painful manner. "I can't keep this conversation up... It takes up too much energy. I will remain here in your dreams when you need me." Alan said before vanishing in a soft flash of light.

"No! Wait!" Tails shrieked up as he noticed he was back in his room. Was it real?

The next day he and Sonic were on their way to the floating island using the tornado. It was unusually quiet between the two as they would normally talk all the way when flying off to somewhere. But the pilot was in deep thought over his encounter with Alan's spirit last night.

When they arrived on their destination Tails just sat there for a moment. "Is there something wro-" "How do you think he will react to this, Sonic?" He interrupted.

"I don't know. Why would you worry about that?" Tails shook his head. "Let's just go." He said while grabbing his robe from the storage case under his seat.

After a short walk they came by the shrine, and Knuckles was exactly where they suspected he would be. He was just sitting on the lowest step of the altar's stairs, watching the world go by. "Hey knuckles!" Sonic shouted while running up to him. "Sonic? Long time." Knuckles said with a smile on his face. He seemed pretty pleased with the company. He then looked at Tails who was suspiciously trying to hide himself behind his blue friend. "Tails? Is that you? I know it's been a few months since I saw you, but it looks like it's been years. What happened?"

"We hoped you could tell us that." Knuckles' jaw dropped at the mature sound of Tails' voice.  
>"Ok, that's creepy, but what makes you think I know what made you go through express puberty?"<p>

He said while leaning back. Tails seemed hurt by Knuckles' comment so Sonic stepped in. "It has something to do with the emeralds he found." The guardian looked up at the hedgehog. "What are you saying?"

Sonic threw him the two emeralds they found. "These have markings too?" Knuckles said surprised.  
>"You have another?" Knuckles handed him the red one he had. "A flame, a star, and wings..." He said pondering. "And what exactly happened to Tails?"<p>

After telling the whole story, the guardian noticed Sonic's quills and when he asked if anything else changed Sonic showed him the bumps on his back and the markings he was getting on his spines and limbs.

"Very strange..." Knuckles said while taking off his gloves, exposing white bracelet-like markings on his wrists. "I got these three days ago, and on my tail here... Whatever is happening to us... might be more serious than adding some years..."

"I also got this when it happened." Tails said while putting on the robe. Knuckles took a good look at him. "That's not all..." He raised his hand and shot a bright white flash from his palm right onto a stray boulder, blasting it apart.

"Amazing..." "So you have any idea of what this is?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles sighed. "Frankly, I have no clue. I know a lot about the emeralds, but nothing I've learned had anything to do with this..." It was apparent that it bothered him immensely not being able to tell what was happening.

"I don't know if it was real, but... I think I know what's going on."


	6. Escaping the clutches of death

Rouge was getting more worried every passing day. Shadow's temper and depression made him almost uncontrollable and he hid himself away in his house, deeply ashamed of his appearance.

The wounds of the transformation were almost healed and had stopped hurting when he moved. At night he would keep Rouge awake with painful moans, but when confronted about it he'd say he couldn't remember doing anything like that.

And she had enough of this, if they were going to get trough this, Shadow would need to get a hold of himself. She grabbed the two emeralds, put them in a shoulder bag and went to find him. He was just sitting in his room again. Rouge walked in and ducked down to face him. The eyes that looked up were still the same as the ones she knew before. But it seemed like the fire had died out in those crimson eyes. All they showed now was shame and despair.

"Follow me." She said softly while pulling her friend from the floor. It was 3:30 AM so she was sure no one would see them. "Stay close, and no one will see you..." Shadow hesitated and almost refused to follow her, but in the end, what did he have to lose?

Rouge had led him to the roof where they found the emerald a couple of days ago. She went to sit on the edge of the building, looking into the sea of small lights while a chilly night's breeze made her shiver a little. Shadow noticed how beautiful she looked and wondered why he didn't notice that before. Sure he knew she was a sensual attraction to most, but most would miss the more natural and innocent beauty that laid behind her sexual entourage.

He then looked down at himself... A monster.

He was distracted from his thoughts as she beckoned him to come closer. He sat down next to her and she immediately wrapped her arms around him. "You are not a monster, Shadow..." He returned the embrace instantly. He wouldn't know what to do without her.

After the embrace ended, they both rose to their feet and Rouge pulled him away from the edge. "Let's get going." She said winking. Shadow didn't get it at all. "Well, now that you've got yourself some nice strong wings, how about you try them out?" He never saw 'trying them out' as an option, he didn't want to have them to begin with. "How?"

First, spread your wings. She mouthed a silent "wow." when she saw the immense span of them. "Now you jump a little, and flap 'em. Simple as that." Rouge said while snapping her fingers to elucidate the last word. Shadow was unsure but followed her instructions. And surely, he was hovering in the air. He was struggling to maintain balance but he stayed up in the air for a while. "Good enough." Rouge said while pulling his hand. "Wait, what are you-" She dragged him to the edge of the building and pulled him with her.

For a split second, Shadow was sure he was going to crash to the ground, but like a second nature woke up inside of him he started flying like he was born with those wings. Rouge was cheering behind him and was relieved to see that fire that had been gone was blazing once more.

They took each other's hand and flew higher and higher. When they were above the clouds they floated in place and Shadow looked Rouge gratefully in the eye. She was touched by this manner and hoped he felt better again.

While looking in those blood red eyes, his eyes shifted from red to jet black and shadow's gentile expression became a menacing grin as he grabbed Rouge and held her wings tight to her body and made a nosedive towards the ground at a great velocity. Terrified she screamed as hard as she could, hoping the sonic sound would distract him. No such luck. Shadow Simply smirked at the futile attempt of the bat. His sharp claws dug into her sides as he held her more tightly.

She tried as hard as she could to push herself out of his crushing grip. And in a nick of time she managed to bite his upper arm, breaking skin with her sharp fangs. In reflex he let go of Rouge who barely could spread her wings and escape certain death. She looked once at her bleeding friend and felt her eyes getting misty. "I'm sorry..." Without looking back she sped away, hoping she would not be followed.

After hours on end flying straight forward she felt exhausted and her sides and wings hurt, she could barely keep her eyes open and was too afraid to slow down. Vaguely she could make out the sun rising to her right when all of a sudden she saw Tails' plane flying over from above. She remembered Angel island was straight ahead, and decided to turn to them for help.

"So, wait, you share your body with some magical spirit from an alternate dimension?"  
>"Basically. He's not active in my mind for the most part, but I did take on some of his distinct features." Sonic had a hard time wrapping his head around it and found it quite hard to believe. Knuckles wasn't easily surprised anymore, he looked away from the two for a moment and noticed something flying in the distance. He focused for a moment and then he noticed what it was...<p>

"Look there." The other two looked up and saw her too when she suddenly plummeted towards the ground. "Rouge!" Knuckles jumped up and ran towards the edge of the island, not realizing he was still holding the red emerald. Whilst running a bright light surrounded him and he ran right through, coming out with small white markings all over his body and wore tribal attire as he kept on running. He jumped off the cliff and glided all the way towards the unconscious bat. Almost missing her, he managed to catch her in his arms and quickly glided back to the island's surface.

Sonic and Tails immediately ran over to the both of them. Knuckles didn't even bother to notice he just changed. He placed her gently in the grass. "Rouge? Rouge, wake up..." He then noticed the red stains on the shirt she was wearing. He carefully removed the piece of fabric and saw the small puncture wounds on her side, she had been bleeding badly. Knuckles checked her pulse and tried to hear her heart. But no heart was beating.

Knuckles was beaten with defeat. His head dropped and tears rolled down his cheeks. Tails was also tearing up. "You can save her!" He heard in his head. "Just follow my lead..."

He knelled on the opposite side of Knuckles and reached for his hands. As soon as their hands touched the guardian's tears stopped and went to a peaceful focus.

Sonic had no idea how to act or what to say, he was just confused. He watched how the both of them held their hands over Rouge's body. One hand under the one of the other. Strange canon chanting in some strange language caught him completely off-guard. They knew exactly what to say even if though they didn't rehearse any of it.

The chanting became louder and Rouge's chest lifted up and took a big breath. Sonic scared back, completely freaked out. Tails an Knuckles snapped out of their trance and the guardian immediately took a hold of Rouge's shoulders who was coughing and shivering. He was so glad she was alive. She reached for her head and groaned in pain. When she opened her eyes she saw knuckles caressing her in his arms. But, was it sure this was really him? "Knuckles?" He took her hand and held it tightly. "Take it easy, you're safe now..." Rouge shifted a little and got comfortable against the guardian before falling asleep. A smile spread across his face when she did. Sonic gently jabbed Tails with his elbow, hinting to leave him them alone for a while.

"Well that was... unexpected." Sonic said. "huh? What did you say?" Tails was obviously not paying any attention to his friend. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure out what happened just now." He said while scratching the back of his head.  
>"No kidding, you and Knuckles just resurrected the dead." Tails hadn't even seen it like that. "We merely reanimated her, she wasn't dead..." He told himself.<br>"Dead or not, she lives because of you." Sonic said proud. The modest young fox just blushed with a sheepish smile on his face. Even if he was sure Alan had everything to do with this.

Meanwhile Knuckles was still sitting there with the girl still laying in his arms. He loved her more than he would ever admit, and only now realized he never wanted to lose her.  
>He gently stroked her head and felt her grasping a tighter grip on him as he did.<p>

He only then noticed his gloves had been replaced with a set of colorful rings and heavy gemstone wristbands. His knuckle spikes from his gloves had made place for iron claws that were securely tied to his hands.  
>From the wristbands a light beige piece of cotton fabric ran loosely down his arms and joined together in a tunic that was draped around his body. He wore no footwear besides a pair of decorative iron ornaments hanging from his ankles and was also wearing a silver and gemstone necklace. White v-shaped markings running down his forehead and a long flame like marking running up his wrists.<p>

Rouge started shifting and was starting to wake up. She looked up and smiled as she looked into his vibrant purple eyes. Knuckles squeezed her hand and hoped she would be okay. After a few minutes she was strong enough to sit up and was back at full cautiousness. "Ah, Rouge, you're back." They looked to their right and saw Sonic and Tails standing there. Knuckles could punch him in the face for interrupting the moment. "Are you okay?" He asked with his soft voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But... I need you guys' help."


	7. Mission exposition

"What's the trouble?" Tails asked. The bat looked at the fox in a questioning way. "Long story... I'll tell you later."

"Well, it all started four days ago when Shadow and I found a chaos emerald." "A chaos emerald?" Rouge nodded. "Shadow took it and the next day he. Well, he transformed into a Monster..." She explained. "What do you mean?" Sonic asked. "You know, a monster; rugged fur, large wings, claws, sharp teeth... I tried telling him he wasn't like that, that he would be alright. I took him to fly with me, and that's when it all went wrong..." Knuckles felt her squeezing his hand pretty hard. "What happened after?" Sonic asked while sitting down. "Shadow's eyes suddenly turned black, and he try... He tried to kill me..." As was telling this she slowly pulled her knees up to her chest, still horrified by the incident. She was used to danger and had been a target many times, but Shadow was like a brother to her and she just couldn't bare the thought of him trying to kill her like he did. "While we were flying, he locked my wings against my body and dived down, trying to slam me to the ground. It's like he's possessed."

The sun was already setting when everyone had calmed down. They were just sitting in the tall grass with the altar standing behind them. It was only then that they paid attention to Knuckles' new looks. "Well, sorry for just noticing but why are you dressed all festive?" Rouge asked. The guardian looked down on himself and noticed he was practically covered with precious metals and gemstones. "Well, I think that like Tails all of this came with the transformation." He explained but they were distracted by the fox who started to shake and moan. "Tails, you ok, buddy?" He suddenly stopped and he just looked out in front of him with a blank expression and half closed eyes. "Tails?" Sonic said while waving his hand in front of him. "The name's Alan, but nice to finally meet you." Tails said while offering his hand. Sonic was freaked out, as were Knuckles and Rouge.

"I'm sorry if my abrupt interruption startled you, but I needed to speak with you." The voice was the same, but the manner of speaking was politer then Tails' normal speech.  
>"I came to understand that you all have been touched by a spirit?" They all nodded, Rouge included. "Wait, you have an emerald too?"<p>

"It's good to see two of us have already been able to fuse with our hosts." Alan continued. "Fuse with a host? Like a parasite?" Rouge asked slightly disgusted. "Not exactly, you see, we don't need the host to survive, because we've all passed away already. We choose a host that stand closest to the ones we were when we still lived. When the evil that struck us down that day had reappeared in this world we were somehow called back into existence to aid you." Tails' eyes shifted to Knuckles. "You must have fused with the spirit of Fotia. She was a mighty warrior, I trust you are as fierce as she was." Knuckles didn't seem pleased to have fused with a girl spirit. "So that's why you're all dolled up." Sonic Joked. Rouge snickered.

"Can you at least tell me what I fused with, I mean you're a mage and I-" "Am a salamander." The thought of the tiny puddle creature came to their minds and Rouge and Sonic just started laughing. "You appear to have mixed up the amphibian from this world, with a powerful elemental lizard from mine." The two immediately stopped laughing and turned to Knuckles.

"Just hold out your hand, please. Yes, and now try to visualize you are holding a flame." Knuckles really focused and suddenly a flame shot from his palm and rested in his hand.  
>"Wow, this feels weird..." "You are now able to summon and control fire at your will." The guardian formed a fist, crushing the flame out. He seemed to be glad with his new power.<p>

"You've also mentioned one of your friends turned into a monster?" Alan asked Rouge who nodded at the question. "In that case, Agalma is already one step ahead of us... Your friend must have fused with him, he's a gargoyle spirit, he almost destroyed our world, he's an Evil, murderous, manipulative creature who leaves nothing but destruction and despair in its wake."

"You mean... Shadow is also like that?" Rouge asked carefully. Alan turned to the girl and shook his head. "Agalma looks for the heavyhearted and confused. This fusion was forced, he didn't stand a chance. Listen carefully, you must find the two remaining members of my resistance, and you two should find a way to fuse as soon as possible. There may not be that much time left." He spoke before he stopped controlling Tails.

His eyes widened as Sonic got a hold of his shoulders, keeping him from tipping over. "Well, I guess that explains some things..." He said with a drowsy voice.  
>"We have to stick together, we spend the night here and go look for the others in the morning." Sonic said.<br>"Here, on Angel island? No place for a girl like me, but I guess there's no other option." Rouge said while leaning back a little, brushing up to Knuckles.

The next morning the four hero's went over their mission. "Ok, there are two more emeralds out there." Sonic explained. "And someone must have found them by now."

"The two missing emeralds are the aqua, and the green colored ones. And I've noticed a trend, just hold out your emeralds." Knuckles said. "For some reason we all received the emerald matching our fur color." "That isn't true, I have nothing purple on me and still I got the purple one..." Rouge had a point if she got one that didn't match that would mean the 'trend' is a coincidence.

"We can't think of that now." Tails interrupted. "If we rule this out we have nothing to go on. And if you are right then we'll at least know it's not them."  
>Sonic thought for a moment. "Do we know any green or light blue colored people?"<p>

"I don't know anyone who's blue besides you, Sonic, but I happen to have an old green friend." Knuckles added with a smile on his face. "If you mean that thief ,Jet, then I'm quite concerned about your friend choices." Rouge added. "What? I wouldn't trust that egomaniac to save my life."  
>"Then who is it, Knuckles?"<p> 


	8. Knocking on a familiar door

"Your mind, so feeble, so corruptible... Soon I will have taken over completely and then you won't be able to resist my orders anymore."

Agalma was getting pretty used to Shadow's body but still felt some sort of resistance from somewhere. He reckoned it was just a matter of time to completely erase Shadow's identity completely.

He had taken refuge in the city, lots of dark places to hide himself until he was at full strength again. While hawking over the city's skyline the sun was rising. Reckoning he'd turn to stone soon Agalma summoned two dark purple clouds of smoke by making swirling hand gestures. "My minions... My takeover is drawing nigh. The resistance is reforming, I want you to find, and exterminate them."

The puffs formed into a small group of winged creatures, about half the size as Shadow himself, and flew off to fulfill their duty.

Agalma went to hide on the roof in the corner behind the airduct. When the light touched him he closed his eyes as his body turned to solid stone.

"So you just happened to come across it?"

"I told you, when I we were doing some fieldwork for that robbery a few days ago I found it laying in the gutter."

It was indeed Vector who found the green emerald. Espio had a hard time believing he would just stumble on a chaos emerald like that. "It could've been a piece of evidence, why did you keep this to yourself?" The lizard asked annoyed. "Liquor store thieves wouldn't use something like a chaos emerald to rob a place. They wouldn't even know how to find one, let alone use the thing."

"It does have a pretty image on it." Charmy said cheerful. "Don't toss it around like that, Charmy, who knows what damage it could cause!" Vector shouted while grabbing the gem from the bee's hands.  
>"A wave... what does it mean?" Espio pondered.<p>

The detectives were interrupted by the ringing bell from the front door. Vector walked to the front desk and was surprised to see Sonic and the others standing there. "Vector long time no see." Knuckles said while walking up to the crocodile.

"Hey, what's up, man?" "Knuckles!" Charmy squealed. "Why are you dressed all funny?"

"We need to ask you something." Rouge jumped in, clearly not willing to lose any time. "Sure, lady, what seems to be the problem?"

"We need to know if you, by any chance, found a chaos emerald." Vector was lost for words, how did they know?

"You mean the green gem?" Charmy asked. "Yes! I knew it wasn't a coincidence." Tails added.

"What are you talking about? What's not a coincidence?" The others pulled out their emeralds and Vector noticed the similarity in color. "You should come with us, Vector, we're on a mission of sorts and we need your help to unlock your powers and fight this new enemy."

Sonic explained to them the entire situation with Shadow who got possessed and the spirits of a fallen resistance who resided in the emeralds. The Chaotix were usually quite fast in picking up information but they had no clue about what Sonic was rambling about this time.

"There's a spirit from that other world in the emerald, the shock you felt when you first touched it was also the first contact with the spirit. Tails and I have already fused with our spirits, giving us supernatural powers." "Get out a here." Vector spoke, not believing a word of what Knuckles was saying. "Shall we give him a demonstration?" Espio was surprised at the sound of Tails' voice and didn't question something was happening here.

They all stepped outside as Knuckles and Tails prepared themselves. Vector watched with held breath. Tails went first and created an orb of light in his hands and shot it into the air, making it explode like a firework. "Pretty!" Charmy shouted.

Knuckles stepped away from the fox and out of thin air he started swirling fire around like an acrobatic juggler. And when he held his hands together and pointed at the sky, a giant blaze reputed from his palms. "Cool! I wonder what you'd be able to do, vector." He was thinking the exact same thing.

"Do you believe us now?" Tails asked confident. Before the crocodile could answer, they were ambushed by the miniature devils Agalma summoned. No doubt attracted by the magical display.

"What are those?" Charmy hid behind Vector as the creatures attacked. They bit, clawed and slapped with their wings. They were fast little critters to boot, making them hard to hit.

Everyone did their best to fight them off, but three of them managed to overpower Sonic, who refused to admit defeat. He used all his might to push the creatures off of him and was suddenly surrounded by an orb of light.

While inside he sat knelled down and some undefined figure laid his hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Be brave." Suddenly two large feathered wings sprouted from his back, his tail expanded and he felt his legs changing shape. The fur underneath his head got longer and changed into a wavy mane. A spark of light on his chest turned into a large golden amulet with wide necklace attached to it.

Sonic was standing on all fours and spreading the wings caused the light that surrounded him to disappear. The gloves on his hands and the shoes on his feet had vanished and his strong digtigrade hind legs had retractable claws attached to the toes while his hands had sharp, longer regular claws.

Finally, he had fused. In a fierce rage he lunged at the winged creatures and scratched and clawed his way through the monsters. When Knuckles blasted the last one, the slain enemies evaporated in a puff of smoke.

Sonic rose to his feet as the others gaped at his new majestic looks. He had two strong cat-like hind legs and a long tail with furry tip. His feet had carpal pads and his hands had peach colored rough skin on the palms and fingers. The large eagle wings looked very strong, and a furry mane ran from his chest to the back of his neck. It could remind one of Silver's.  
>His shade of blue turned a little lighter with shades of beige and hazel coloring the wings, mane and tip of his tail. Sonic's quills almost arched completely down, and had light streaks in his quills and limbs. A heavy golden amulet decorated his chest.<p>

"Wow, this feels weird..." Sonic said while almost losing his balance. If Vector's jaw could break off it would by laying on the ground. Espio kept his guard up, he didn't trust this situation in the slightest so kept the kunai dart he used in close reach. "So, are you coming with us, Vector?" The chaotix leader didn't know what to say, he looked at his other team members. "Can I get a moment to think about this?" Vector carefully asked, this was something new for him... Sonic's team wasn't really expecting this answer, but they understood he might need a moment to let it sink in. "We can come back after we found the sixth member." Tails said. "There might not be enough time for that..." Knuckles added.

Sonic picked to differ and told Vector they'd be back whenever he's ready, and that they'll be waiting for him.

When they left the crocodile he needed some time to think, and asked his teammates not to disturb him. He went inside the house and left Charmy and Espio stand there. "You're jealous, aren't cha?" The bee said with a slimy grin on his face. "What? What makes you think that?" Espio's immediate reaction proved Charmy's point.

Vector spent hours upon hours sitting in his office, thinking it over. It wasn't that he didn't care or that he would abandon a duty-call, but seeing how much Sonic changed freaked him out to say the least.

He never suspected himself to be made for any greater duty, and being a bigshot hero wasn't an aspiration of himself, he thought being a detective a noble enough job as it is. And still, here he was, with a powerful gem resting in his hand, and the prospect of shape shifting into someone else... Knowing what it did to Shadow, it naturally scared him a bit.

The room started to suffocate him and walked out of the house with the emerald with him. He was just staring at the starry night sky, pondering about what he was to do.

Meanwhile upstairs, Espio was just sitting on his windowsill, looking at the patterns the raindrops made on the glass surface of the window. He pushed the window open and stared off into the distance. Lightning struck as the chameleon noticed Vector was just sitting there, in the pouring rain.

He felt a bit jealous because he did feel like he was meant for some greater adventure, the years of training his fighting skill, and experience as a professional detective made him smarter and less naive. Though he had Vector to thank for that. When he was wandering about, at age ten, he had fallen ill, if Vector didn't happen to come by, then Espio could've died because of an untreated bronchitis infection. He felt sick, sure, but nothing too bad.

After he got better the then nineteen year old Vector proposed to the kid to stay with him for a while. But the grateful Espio never left. He took care of the young child and after showing a lot of interest in his job, he taught the chameleon the tricks ant tweaks of being a good detective. He would do the same later with Charmy, even if their personalities couldn't possibly differ any more from each other.

Vector needed his help now...

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_**Author's notes:**_

_Ok, I'll make my chapters longer, they're at least 3 pages long now. Though I wouldn't expect for me to make them longer because I work sith seperate acts. every chapter is a different part of the story, not just where I left off and decided to upload._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading so far. ^_^  
><em>_I just do my best to entertain you with my imaginations._

_And an angel? you guys really thought I'd be so cliche'd to make him an angel? Not only would it be cliche, it wouldn't fit him... Sonic's no angel, so I thought the bold and courageous gryphon would fit him better. (Some artwork to give you guys a better idea on what he looks like is under way!)_

_**And thanks to everyone who already faved me and this story, put this story on their watchlist, and posted a review. I really appreciate it!**_


	9. Family issues

As the thunder roared Espio climbed down and walked up to his friend.

"Are you okay?" He asked while taking a seat next to him.  
>Vector sighed. "I just don't get it, Espio. I'm no heroic type, why did this spirit choose me? It just doesn't make sense."<p>

"More than you think apparently..." Vector looked up to the younger chameleon who was staring of into the distance. "I Mean, you still saved my life all those years ago. You take care of Charmy now; raising a hyperactive honeybee is no easy task." "Just because I took you two in doesn't make me a hero. It was no big deal."

Espio turned around to face him while laying a hand on his shoulder. "You are an honorable person, Vector, you've got a big heart. Even if you don't see what you did as a big deal, just know that it is to us." The chameleon said before walking away. Vector just watched him as he went back inside.

"How is he?" Charmy asked as soon as Espio closed the door behind him. "He just has a lot on his mind right now. But he'll be alright." The bee seemed uncharacteristically gloomy, but he figured there was nothing he could do about it.

Meanwhile the rest of the gang was also surprised by the sudden rainfall and had to take refuge in a cavern. Much to Rouge's displeasure.  
>"I still don't get what we're doing in some musky cave like this." She said while trying to wring the water from her clothes. "We can't afford to run around in the open." Tails began to explain. "And especially now that Sonic transformed, we'd be too easy to spot." "I see no point in hiding, just let this gargoyle thing come!" Sonic said overconfident as ever. "This Ag..Agalma person obviously knows where we are. We can't let it get to us before we're complete."<p>

"I still can't believe that crocodile would let us down like that." Rouge said angrily. "There's not much we can do about it, if he wants to take some time to think, then we will have to respect it." Knuckles said while starting a fire.

Rouge sat down and tried to warm herself with the fire without much luck. Tails noticed she was shivering and offered her his warm robes. "Thank you, you're an angel." She said before walking up to Sonic. "Spread your wings, big blue, I need to change.

The hedgehog, for as far as he still resembled one, folded his left wing so it would be big enough for Rouge to hide behind. "No peeking." She said seductive while glancing at Knuckles who quickly looked away when he felt a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Anyway, who do you think could have the light blue emerald?" Tails asked. "If we're looking for someone with a similar color, I can only think of Silver..." "Unlikely, Sonic, he's not in this time period anymore. What about Amy?"

"Amy?" Sonic squealed in terror. "It's possible. Who else could it be?" Rouge stepped from behind Sonic's wing and hung her clothes over a stray rock near the fire. "I don't like it either, but I just can't think of anyone else either." Sonic sighed in defeat. "I guess we could pay her a quick visit..."

Sonic walked to the rest of the team and took a seat next to Tails. "It's best to get some sleep, we've got a long day ahead of us, guys." The rest agreed with Knuckles and decided to call it a night.

Sonic had trouble getting comfortable with his new body and found that the best way to lay down was to do it like an actual feline; on his stomach between his legs and his head resting on his crossed arms. He then noticed Tails was shivering. No surprise actually, unlike him or Knuckles who were used to sleep outdoors, Tails liked homely comfort, and wasn't much of a camper either.

He whispered his name and beckoned him to come closer. "Cold, huh?" Tails nodded and so sonic offered his wing. "Just come a bit closer, I'll keep you warm." "Thank you..."

Knuckles also noticed Rouge was clinging on to the robe she got while shaking. So he got up and went to sit quite closely to the bat who wasn't expecting him to. "Come here." He softly offered with open arms. Rouge carefully went to lay in his lap with the robes tightly draped around her body. "Good night..."

Hours later the sun was slowly rising above the hills. Vector had stayed up all night, and knew what he had to do. Quietly he walked past the rooms of Espio and Charmy, glancing inside as he did.

Both were still fast asleep, so Vector tried not to make any noise that could possibly wake them up. When he made his way down he grabbed a notebook and a pen, and sat down at his desk.

He had no idea what to write. If he wrote down exactly what he felt, he'd come over as a corny sap, but writing a half truth wasn't like him at all. So he emptied his thoughts and wrote what came to mind...

He put the note on the table and quietly made his way outside.

When Espio was awake he found the note and immediately shouted at the bee upstairs to come down.

"_I've made up my mind, boys.  
><em>_I'm leaving with them to fight off this enemy.  
><em>_I just want you two to know that I never regretted taking you in when you needed me. We fight a lot, sure, but doesn't every family have their arguments? I don't know when I'll be back... or if I'll be back, just keep the place running while I'm gone, okay._

_-Vector."_

"So he really left, huh?" Espio nodded. "This note says he might not be coming back! That's not true, right?" The chameleon was lost for words, this wasn't an empty Eggman battle but a full fledged war against some demonic spirit... Not to mention that an army fell fighting it before.  
>He was suddenly distracted from his thoughts as Charmy locked his arms around him, Espio responded by doing the same. "Espio?..." "Hmm."<br>"You're still my big brother, right?" Espio smiled. "Of course I am..."  
>"Please don't leave as well..."<p>

Not too far into the woods the team was also waking up from a cold night. Rouge changed back into her clothes and gave the robe back to Tails.  
>"Ok, team, since you all agreed to see if Amy found anything, we should try to find her. Luckily, her cottage isn't too far away from here and is right across this forest near the lake." Sonic explained.<p>

"Well, for someone who isn't into Amy, you sure know a detailed route to her house, big blue."  
>Sonic just scratched the back of his head, trying to think up an explanation of why he knew the location that well.<p>

"I heard you were looking for someone green?" Distracted they turned around to find Vector standing there. "Vector!" Tails said enthusiastic.  
>"So you decided to come with?" "How did you find us, anyway?" Rouge asked.<p>

"I knew that after those winged things attack you'd want to lay low for a while so the most logical route was through the forest. I also suspected you wouldn't travel through the rain at night, and so the only place where you could have spent the night is right here." They just were amazed at Vector's incredible insight. "Nice thinking, Vector. We sure could use you, man." The crocodile wasn't used to be complemented on it so he just grinned. "Don't get too blown away, it's my job after all."

"Ok, that makes five of us, let's go find the last member, team!"

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Author's notes:

Yeah, just by observing those three and how the act towards one another I think it's clear that they see each other more like family then just friends, or coworkers. I just sketched some background that's all... I think Charmy and Espio also share a brother-like relationship, maybe even more then Sonic and Tails do since they tend to strongly disagree with each other. Vector seems more like an authority figure, so being a tiny bit father-like towards Charmy fits his persona pretty well.

Anyway, short chapter again, I know and I'm sorry, but it just doesn't fit into the next part that I'm writing... next chapter coming up soon!


	10. Lies at the bottom of the lake

The group was walking through the forest, especially Sonic seemed pleased with their environment.

"I swear, if another nasty bug crawls up my leg I'm out a here." Rouge complained. "Don't worry, we're almost there. Just a few more minutes."  
>It suddenly started to rain again, not improving the bat's mood in any way. When they almost reached the house, Knuckles looked over at Vector. "You're already changing..." "Vector silently gasped in panic as the others also came to look. The rain was showing pastel blue markings over his body. It almost looked like the flowy streaks were painted on.<p>

"We're here; Team." Tails said while pointing at the cottage in the distance.

"Come on, we're wasting time." "Right behind you, Knuckles."

They arrived at the house, but noticed the curtains were closed. "Maybe she's not home?" Tails suggested. Knuckles just knocked the door but to the team's surprise, it was Cream who opened up.  
>"Sorry, guys, but Amy isn't... Waah!" Cream just freaked out as she was about to close the door held Sonic the thing open. "Calm down, Cream, it's me, Sonic?"<p>

"Go away, Sonic!" Amy shouted from another room. Vector and Knuckles nodded to each other and just knew she must have the final emerald. "Amy? Cream, you've got to let us in. Amy could be in danger, did she find a chaos emerald?" The rabbit just looked at them in a puzzled manner.

"Can't you guys take a hint? I said go away." Amy was actually looking anything but ill. Something noticeable was that she was wearing a somewhat baggy, light gray jumpsuit, instead of her usual short dresses.

Sonic ducked away before she could see him properly. "What are you all...? Wow, just what are you two wearing?" "Look who's talking." Rouge said snooty but Amy just gave her an angry glare.

"And didn't I just hear Sonic's... Voice?" She was just completely dazzled by Sonic's appearance.  
>"Eh, Hi Amy." The pink hedgehog just stared in complete silence, she blinked a few times, but that was it.<br>When she finally snapped out of it, she panned her view from sonic to the rest of the group, noticing the changes. "Amy, we need your help..."

"It were the chaos emeralds that made you look like this?" Sonic nodded.  
>Amy let them inside her house after all. And they were just finished explaining the whole deal to her. "So, did you find one of the emeralds?" Tails asked hopeful.<p>

But she just pressed her eyes closed and said. "No, I'm sorry but I didn't find anything..." That was not the answer they were hoping for. Despair filled the room as they lost their only lead.

"What if it's someone we don't know?" "Now that would be a setback..." Amy suddenly started coughing, disrupting their conversation.

"I'm sorry..." She said with a labored voice. "I told you I didn't feel well..." Sonic signed to the rest of them to go outside while he tried to calm her.

"I should be going home, Amy, my mom is probably wondering where I am." Cream said.

"Alright, just be safe, okay?" The bunny nodded and gave Amy a small kiss on her cheek before leaving the house. "Goodbye Mr Sonic."

When they were alone, Sonic quite sporadically pulled Amy into an embrace. Stroking her sides and back as he did. And though she wasn't expecting this in any way, she simply returned the gesture and enjoyed the moment. When they let go of one another Sonic slid Amy's arms through his hands. "Amy, are you sure you didn't find anything?" But the pink hedgehog just nodded. "I'm sure." A bit beaten down Sonic stood up and walked towards the door. "If you should find anything, please come to us..."

When he closed the door Amy arched forward and started to cry softly.

"What was keeping you in there so long?" Tails asked. "She's lying."

"What? Why would she lie about this?" Knuckles asked confused. "I noticed it too, and trust me, I can spot liars from a mile..." Vector said.  
>"It wasn't just that..." Sonic explained. "I held her to see if I could find anything unusual about her body, and some parts aren't furred, but are smooth... Something's happening to her. And I'm going to find out what."He said determined. "You guys go look for the final emerald. If Amy isn't lying after all, then you need to find the last. I stay here to find out what's wrong with her." The group nodded and continued their quest. "You better know what you're doing." Rouge said.<p>

Sonic didn't like this situation, not at all...

He took a deep breath and went back inside. Amy was still sitting on her couch with a troubled expression on her face. She looked up when she heard someone enter.

"I won't leave like this..." Sonic said while walking into the room. Amy didn't know if she should be overjoyed or nervous.  
>"The monsters that attacked us could still be nearby. And now that you're too weak to fight them yourself... I just want to make sure you'll be safe."<p>

Amy couldn't believe her ears. Did Sonic just tell her that he cares about her? "Thank you, Sonic."

Sonic wanted to step closer, but actually tripped over his own feet and almost fell to the floor but was able to balance himself with his wings just in time.  
>"Can you actually fly with those?" Sonic sheepishly looked at the wings on his back. "I uh. I haven't tried them out yet." But thinking about it sure made him want to.<p>

"Can I see you fly?" Amy asked as she was pulling his hand. Not watching what she was doing, she accidentally showed a part of her underarm and her waist. Sonic didn't have enough time to see what it was, but she had pale green spots on her body that reflected light a little...

The skies had cleared up again and faint beams of sunlight shone through the clouds, making the lake seem like it had a crystal surface.

Sonic prepared himself and searched for a good starting stance.  
>Waggling a bit as he tried to gain some speed he aimed for a boulder at the lakeside and launched himself into the air while Amy watched with held breath..<p>

And soon enough he was flapping his wings and soared through the sky. Filled with extacy from the new experience of flight he edged himself on to fly higher.

While holding still into the air, just staring out at the landscape something sped towards him.

It was one of Agalma's creatures, but this one was larger than the one they fought before.

"Watch out; behind you!" Amy screamed, but it was too late, Sonic wasn't able to hear her. The creature drew its sharp claws into its back and bit the back of his neck.  
>Sonic plummeted to the ground at great speed. And was barely able to pull the little monster off of him before falling into the water. "Sonic!" Amy shrieked and without a second thought she dove into the water...<p>

As she tried to swim closer she was suddenly surrounded by the same familiar light...

Her clothes vanished and her legs made way for a shining pale green fish tail with flowy pastel pink fins. Her upper body was covered with a swirly pattern of scales of the same color as her tail.

Quickly she dove after the now uncontentious gryphon and grabbed him just in time to swim back to the surface, where the creature was waiting.

She knew she had to be quick, so she dragged him out of the water and looked around in panic. When suddenly she turned back, wearing the same gray clothes.  
>She didn't get enough time to be confused as the monster came back. From nowhere she pulled out her hammer and started walloping the thing like it was nothing.<p>

"I won't let you hurt my Sonic!" With a final blow the monster clawed once at her chest, before being hit with a final blow and finally evaporating into the same purple smoke.

Sonic painfully reached for his head and turned around to see Amy keeping herself on her feet using her hammer while some of the smoke still circled around her. He quickly brushed off the pain and reached her just before she collapsed.

He took her in his arms and quickly carried her back inside. When he found her bedroom he laid her down on the bed.  
>Sonic didn't want to do this and always respected personal boundaries, especially when Amy's involved. But here, he didn't have a choice, he had to get those baggy wet clothes off of her...<p>

Slowly he teared the gray attire from her body, revealing the light turquoise patterns.

Scaled swirls ran from her waist up to under her breasts and along her arms and thighs. "I knew it..." Sonic whispered as he ran his fingers across the patterns.

The cut from the creature's claws weren't all too bad, it should heal rather quickly. Sonic lifted her up for a moment to pull the blankets from underneath her. He gently laid her back and covered her with the fresh smelling lavender sheets.

He then leaned over and gave Amy a soft kiss on her forehead. "Thank you..." When Sonic pulled back, Amy stopped him by holding on to his hand.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him in an apologizing way. "Sorry for lying..." "It's okay." Sonic whispered back before leaving the room. But it wasn't okay; She did lie about having the emerald and brought herself, and him in grave danger. The other ones had gone to find the sixth member while it was right there with him.

He had to go warn them, fast.


	11. A pact with the devil

It's impossible they wandered off very far.  
>That and Sonic more or less knew what direction went. He left a note behind for Amy to tell her that he was off to find the others and that she simply had to join them.<p>

An hour or two later Amy woke up and got out of her bed, still wearing nothing but her underwear. She took a white negligee out of her closet and slipped it on before making her way out of the room.

When She found and read the note a menacing voice spoke to her. "Do not think that I would forget about your disobedience." Amy shivered at the sound, as Agalma stepped from the shadows. "Or did you perhaps forget our agreement? None of the others could know about the emerald, or your powers. And if you did then I would let the blue vermin live..." Tears dwelt in her eyes. It wasn't her fault Sonic found out. "It wasn't my fault..." She whispered with fear in her voice.

"Ah, yes, it was because one of my minions knocked you uncontentious while trying to save said vermin you gave away your secret, right?" Amy felt shivers running down her spine as the gargoyle gently held her upper arms from behind. He still sounded like Shadow which made the moment even more unsettling.

She silently nodded while trying to keep as still as possible.

"If you didn't interfere, your cover wouldn't have been blown! The creature that attacked you was sent to test you... It never meant to kill him. I'm not the one to break a deal..."

Amy felt like a fool. She should have known...

"If they return and ask for your cooperation, then join them, I will make your assignments clear soon afterward."

His left hand ran over her back to the spot underneath her head. He rubbed the spot hard with his thumb, showing his cross symbol on her skin like it was burned into her skin. Amy screamed in pain and fell to her knees. "If I can't trust you the easy way, then we will have to go it the hard way." Tears ran from the young girl's eyes, She never endured such pain before.

"The curse will last until my plans have been completed." Amy's eyes widened in fear and panic.

"A... a curse?" She asked fearful. "Whenever you don't hold yourself to your end of the bargain, you will feel it burn again, And trust me; next time the pain won't stop. If you know what's good for you, then you will not defy me again..." He turned around like he was about to leave, but before taking a step he turned back to her. "One last thing... Just how many lives is your lover's worth? Ha-ha-ha..." Then, Agalma disappeared back into the shadows.

"What do you mean we have to go back?" Sonic had found the others rather swiftly and found they didn't wander off all too far. "It's not my fault she lied, Knuckles."

"Stupid girl... Just wait 'till I get my hands on her." "Calm down, Lady, all of you actually. I thought we had to unite a front, if we're going to start fighting among ourselves then we might as well give up." Vector was right, of course. But that didn't have to mean they just had to forgive and forget everything, right?

A few hours later they had reached Amy's house again. She was sitting on a rock near the lakeside, just staring over the water as a few stray drops of rain wrinkled the crystal surface.

Sonic carefully inched closer and softly called her name to get her attention.

"Sonic? I'm so sorry..." She whispered. "I understand, you must've been scared..." It was clear that Sonic had no idea what Amy was apologizing for.

"I came to ask you one more time to join us. Will you?" Sonic reached out his clawed hand, and Amy would take it two seconds later.

"C'mon, pinky." Rouge said impatient. "What?"  
>"You know what, the emerald, let's have it." Amy took out the blue gem and Rouge snagged it from her hands. "Hmm, looks like a pearl..." The bat said before throwing it back.<p>

"So, what now?" "Well, I think we should get the three of you to fuse first, we're still no match for Agalma if half of us can't fight." Knuckles suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Right, Sonic, but I'm afraid there's more to it. I fused while trying out my powers, Knuckles fused while saving Rouge, and you fused right before being defeated by those monsters we fought earlier. The timing may have to be very specific in order for it to happen." Tails explained.

"Well, we have my cross, a wave and a pearl, big guy here has a few blue stripes on him, pinky grew some scales but I still haven't changed a bit. What does that tell you, smarty?" "I, I don't know."

"Can I suggest something?"

"What's on your mind, Vector?"

"Well, I don't know about Rouge here, but me and Amy share aquatic symbols, perhaps we need some water?" Amy held her breath in panic, she couldn't let them know she already found out what she was.

"I don't think regular water will do anything..." Amy said carefully.

"What do you mean?" "Well, I live next to a lake, it's been raining for days and still nothing happened. I think we need perhaps some special spring or something?" She silently prayed they would take her argument seriously … And she was in luck.

"There might be something to it..." Tails said pondering. "What about the hydrocity zone's source on Angel island? It has the clearest and cleanest water I've ever seen." Knuckles was right, they needed a special spring, and they needed it now...

"It's a long shot... C'mon everybody, we're headed back to Angel island."

Thankfully they weren't too far off. Angel island was a three day trip if they took the same way back.

Underway Amy slightly distanced herself from the rest, but not far enough for anyone to really notice it. _"How many lives is your lover's worth?"_ That one line kept on spooking through her head. Just what was his plan?

When they almost made their way out of the woods they came by the Chaotix's office, but something wasn't right; the door looked forced and broken.

With Vector already fearing the worst he stormed inside. "Vector, wait!" Figuring this might be a trap Knuckles, Sonic and Tails quickly followed the crocodile inside.

The place was wrecked to say the least; Windows smashed, broken furniture and clear signs of a fight.

Knuckles gazed around and noticed some shuriken stars stuck in the wall. Whoever did this, Espio had tried fighting them off. The handrails of the stairs were knocked down and the posts were badly scratched. Vector walked upstairs, but it was just as ravaged. Espio's weaponry collection had vanished, only a few broken items that cluttered the floor remained.

But Vector's biggest question remained, Just where are they?

But he got torn from his thoughts as he heard someone screaming downstairs.  
>As fast as he could he ran back down, and into the office where the scream came from. Vector violently pushed the others out of the way…<p>

He just stood there speechless… Tails had clutched Sonic's arm as they looked at what he found.  
>Meanwhile, Rouge and Amy also entered the room and her eyes widened as she slapped a hand across her mouth..<p>

The desk had been turned to its side and something was sloppily written on the wooden surface with blood.

"_Just how many?"_


	12. Strike me down

"_Just how many?"_

Vector closed his eyes for a moment and cleared his head before turning away. "Vector?"  
>"There's no time for us to slow down, if we want this creature stopped then we have to press on…"<p>

Needless to say everyone was shocked at his cold reaction. But he did have a point, if they slow down now, more victims would fall prey to Agalma.

"It's not your fault…" Tails whispered, but he didn't hear it.

Everyone cleared the room but Amy just stared in fear at the words while she felt the burn on her back sting a bit.

While making haste to Angel Island no one said a word. But they all had the same thing on their mind.

Tails kept close to Sonic, unintentionally pinching his arm.

Vector remained cold and tough, he needed to complete this mission for them.

Silent tears ran from Amy's eyes. She felt it was her fault Espio and Charmy… Well, everyone tried to think that they were somehow still alive.

By not stopping for anyone or anything the group had made great progress and even cut their traveling time a day short. "This is a good place to set up camp. We'll rest up here for tonight." Sonic declared. They were in another part of the woods now. It was mainly overgrown with fruit trees and soft grass, and there was a clear creek just a few yards away, in short; the perfect spot.

"We can't stop now." Vector demanded. "What? We've been walking for eight straight hours now, and It'll be dark soon." Rouge protested. Not like she minded being up at night, but she just didn't feel like walking in some nasty bugs she wouldn't be able to see, they were nasty enough in daylight.

"Rouge is right, Vector, We shouldn't push ourselves yet. There's a lot ahead of us, and this is the best place to rest. Here's food, water and shelter. You don't want to walk through those woods at night, trust me." Sonic tried to calm the crocodile down, but he didn't want to know of it.

"Every second we stand here, could be one too much for them!" "We don't even know if they're still alive!"

They snarled at one another, and Sonic even made soft roaring noises as he got down on all fours again.

Tails saw this going the wrong way and decided to intervene.

"Stop it you two!" He shouted while getting in between them. "Sonic is right, we aren't going to find a better place, and we need to keep our strengths until we really need it. Besides, weren't you the one to say we had to unite a collected front? Well, here's your chance to prove you really think like that. Don't act like a blockhead…" Sonic rose to his feet and watched the fox walk away. He was very surprised to say the least. Where did Tails learn to talk like that?

Vector admitted defeat, there was nothing he could do about it and it would be stupid to go on by himself.

"Fine, we'll rest up here, but we're leaving early at sunrise." The rest of the group agreed to the compromise.

"Ok, then. Rouge?" "Huh?" "You and me are the only ones with wings, try to get the ripest fruits from up those trees. She nodded and flew away.

"Tails, Amy, you go gather some water. And You two start making a fire." "No problem." Knuckles answered.

"Okay…" Sonic sighed through his breath, and flew away to gather fruit like Rouge.

While Vector and Knuckles were gathering wood, Knuckles noticed how quiet things were between them, but figured that talking about it would only make matters worse. So he decided to just do his job and hoped it would take Vector's mind away from things for a while.

But it didn't…

Rouge and Sonic sat in a high tree for a while, just staring over the forest with the sun slowly setting in the far distance. Rouge held her emerald in her hands and fiddled around with it nervously. "Just what does it mean…?" She asked herself.

Her thoughts were also with Shadow, was he still there? Did he really kill them, or did he take them away somewhere? And if so, then where would he take them, and then where did the blood come from?

"She looked at Sonic, and for a moment, with the wind blowing through his mane, and the faint light making him look darker than usual, it was almost like Shadow was sitting next to her. But she just shook the thought from her mind and sighed deeply.

"Something wrong?" Sonic asked gently.

"I was just thinking of Shadow." She said with her ears drooped to the side and a sad expression on her face.

"I'm just afraid it might be too late for him…" Sonic stomach dropped, Shadow may not be anywhere near being his best friend, but he still cared. "Don't worry, things will work out." Rouge leaned to the side and rested her head on Sonic's shoulder, seeking some sort of comfort by the bleu hedgehog.

Knuckles looked up and saw the two sitting together like that, Rouge was obviously crying, you could tell by her shaking shoulders.

It hurt him to see her this sad, and seeking solace by someone else…

He just turned away and tried to forget the image.

Meanwhile Tails was fashioning water bottles out of some thick branches that were laying around. By shooting sparks into the wood he could hollow them out. Amy just stared into the clear creek as some small fish swam by.

The guilt was almost too much for her to handle. But she also hoped no one would ever find out she was the one responsible for what had happened.

"There, that should do it…" Tails said while handing her one of the three containers he made. "That was quick." Amy commented.

Tails didn't respond, he just stooped down next to the creek and got to collecting some water.

Amy did the same, carefully trying not to get her hands wet.

"What do you think happened to Espio and Charmy…?" Tails carefully asked.

She didn't know what to say, or what to think about it.

"Can't tell… I sure hope they're ok, and if they are then we will find them." Amy tried to remain as positive as humanly possible. People wouldn't catch on if she just acted like herself.

Tails was always easily cheered by Amy's positive attitude and couldn't bring himself to think they were actually gone either. "You're right, as soon as we get you and Vector to fuse with whatever spirit chose you then we'll defeat this gargoyle in no-time!" Tails said determined. "We've got the water, now let's go back."

From everyone Knuckles seemed to be the most pleased with the all-fruit menu, while others like Vector and Rouge didn't eat anything at all.

"We've got a long way ahead of us tomorrow, at least try to eat something…" Sonic said.

But neither of them responded.

"Let them, Sonic, It's been a rough enough day as it is." Knuckles suggested.

Sonic sighed in response, there wasn't anything he could do to help them now. While staring into the fire no one said a word.

That is until Vector sighed deeply. The single sound made everyone turn to him.

"I'm sorry for how I behaved earlier… You were right, Sonic, there is no point in exhausting ourselves when we don't even know if they are still alive." Sonic wanted to disagree, but he was right. He looked away while his ears drooped.

That night barely anyone got any sleep, but they were on their feet early. They reached the mystic ruins and made their way to the spring, it was about noon that they reached the hydro city source. The water was so clean and clear it almost looked like it was made from the purest crystal.

"So this is the place?" Vector asked. A chilly breeze made Rouge shiver a bit. "I'm just glad I don't have to go down there."

"Well, here goes…"

Vector took off his shoes, gloves and headphones and stepped in the cold water and dove down.

As he was swimming deeper and deeper, he felt his body getting numb because if the pressure and the cold.

It was getting darker and darker, but Vector kept on going and suddenly the chaos emerald shattered into pieces as now the light was engulfing him too.

"I can't see him anymore…" The rest of the group peered into the depths as suddenly the entire spring lit up and a high wave erupted from the water, splashing the others. When vector landed next to them the others just gaped at his new appearance.

His body was covered in light blue streaks, his spikes made place for a green and blue dorsal vin and his fingers were webbed. Also pair of pelvic fins ran down his sides.

His scales were shinier and his golden necklace was turned into a golden breastplate with the drawing of the wave etched into the metal.

"And? Not too shabby, eh?" Vector said proud. "Not at all, Vector." Tails said excited.

When suddenly their attention was drawn to Amy who in a short flash transformed as well; showing off her mermaid form.

"Wow, of all the things I expected me to turn into…" Amy said sheepishly, trying to pretend surprised.

"You look great, Amy." Tails said reassuring. "Yeah, it's all good and well, but how are we supposed to carry her around wi-" Suddenly Amy turned back to her normal self.

"Huh? Just what is going on here?" Knuckles asked confused. "I guess I only turn into a mermaid whenever I'm wet?" "That doesn't make sense, why would the rain not count?"

"Well, If the rain would cause her to transform, than it would mean she wouldn't be able to get anywhere, so my guess is that only standing water counts." Tails explained.

Suddenly Amy shrieked in pain but kept the screams inside her throat, unwilling to draw even more attention to herself. But Sonic noticed the pained expression as she looked away from the others.

The mark at the back of her neck had started to burn, she wasn't supposed to let her be seen like this, and she incidentally helped the others as well.

"Amy?" She did her best to bite it away as it suddenly faded away. "I'm okay, everyone, don't worry.''

"You disobeyed me, my rose…"

Suddenly the sky went dark as clouds collected over their heads. The western winds blew harder and thunder roared in the distance.

"What was that?" Tails asked in panic as the storm became more intense with every passing second. "Where did that voice come from?" Amy just panicked and kept telling herself this wasn't happening. It just couldn't be.

But she was quickly proven wrong.

"I'm, right here." They all looked up to see a figure stepping from the clouded drapes in the sky.

"Shadow!" Rouge shrieked.

"Hmpf, you mean this puppet? It was the body that was available… Not quite suitable for a king like me, but it'll do… for now." A dark aura surrounded him as the others stared at him in shock, what had he done to Shadow.

"Release him!" Sonic snarled.

"Aren't we fierce… this body will soon lose its usability. It's merely a tool, a prosthetic limb, a bag of skin, bones and blood. He will be nothing to you once I wore him out." He said with a content grin.

"That's it!" Sonic lunged at the demon as he successfully landed a strike on the creature's chest. But before Sonic could land, his leg was pulled and before he knew it, got slammed to the ground.

"Down, boy!" Tails joined in the attack and fired big firework-like jolts at him. But without such luck, Agalma succeeded at dodging the many attacks.

Knuckles joined in too as he shot fire at the beast, charring pieces of its coat.

"You fools don't even realize who you are attacking, do you? It's not my body you're killing…"

The demon walked closer and went to stand in the middle of the circle.

"Go, on.'' He taunted. "Strike me."

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_**Author's notes:**_

_Sorry for the ridiculous delay! Major writer's block on this one, but I've got the juices flowing again, and be prepaired for regular updates again!_


	13. Demoralized

Sonic nervously dug his claws into the ground as Knuckles' rage reached a fever pitch. Agalma picked up on this and turned to the red guardian.

With that disgusting smile still stuck on his face.

"Come on. Release that fury..." But Knuckles did nothing.

"How I've missed walking around at daytime." The others were obviously confused.

"What are you talking about?" Rouge asked in an angry tone.

"I'm gaining strength, I never would have been able to walk about in the daylight before, I'm getting stronger every day."

"How?"

"Do you really think I'm going to blurt out what it is and risk you vermin getting in my way?"

Suddenly there was a shift in Agalma's expression and stance and immediately turned to Rouge.  
>"Rouge, please help me..." It said while reaching out to her.<p>

"Shadow?…" She reached for him as well but Agalma took the upper hand again and smacked the bat to the ground.

"He's still in there." Rouge said through her teeth as she got back on her feet.

"He's still in there, you monster!" She screamed while lunging at him, but Knuckles and Sonic restrained her by her arms to keep her from attacking, as she sank to her knees and tears ran down her face.

"Stop torturing him like this… What do you want from us!"

The gargoyle looked simply amused by Rouge's outburst.

"In one moon cycle I will be complete. Your friend will be powerless to resist me. If you want to save your friend, I suggest you get to it." He said before turning around and walking away"

"What did you do to Espio and Charmy?" Vector shouted.

"Oh, you mean that obnoxious bumblebee and that cynical reptilian? They gave me quite a fight, indeed. But don't worry; they couldn't be in better hands. Ha-ha-ha!"

He took one last glance at Amy and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"We have thirty days until- Uhg." Tails shivered as Alan took over again.

"Your time is running out."

"Alan, is there a way to separate Agalma from Shadow?" Sonic asked.  
>"Fortunately, yes, It is the violin of Keyar, an ancient relic from my world, it carries the element of harmony. If this instrument is played near Agalma it should force him out of your friend's body. But unfortunately has this instrument been lost in time, and the only way to recall it is if all the elements are together." Alan explained.<p>

"Elements? That's the first thing we hear about that, what are these elements?" Knuckles asked annoyed.

"The elements reside in yourself, you got control over these elements the moment you awakened. The element of Earth, air, fire, magic, water and change is all inside of you. You only need to get her in touch with her spirit and the element of harmony is yours…" With those words, Alan left again.

"Let's see." Knuckles began. "If what Alan said is right then; I'm the element of fire, Tails the element of magic, Vector the element of water and Amy the element of change. I'm not sure where you fit in, Sonic."

Sonic didn't even respond he was just looking at Rouge who wore a very troubled expression on her face. Knuckles noticed this, but just sighed and turned to the rest of the group who appeared just as absent minded.

"This is bad…"

"What is it, Knuckles?" Tails asked concerned.

"We have barely a month to get Rouge's spirit and find this missing element thing, but everyone has way too much on their minds to concentrate!" The red guardian raised his voice, which drew the attention of the others.

"What? Am I wrong? Just look at yourselves, we need to work together but everyone's too busy with themselves. Get your act together already, time is running out here! Don't you get it?" Rouge Walked over to the angered echidna with just as much fury in her stance as he.

"I get that you don't have any idea of what we're going through, what I am going through. I know Shadow better than anyone and he's suffering harder than you can even imagine in there! You only think about yourself, and there's a reason you spend most of your days alone." Her fierce words hit like a stab in his chest as she marched away with tears in her eyes.

"Rouge, wait!" Sonic said while following her. Knuckles felt his sadness turn into rage as he watched him go after her. He then noticed everyone was staring at him.

"What are you staring at?"

"Rouge is right, Knuckles, your words cause more pain than your fists…" Tails said gently.

Rouge was still walking fast and simply ignored the hedgehog behind her. She didn't look where she was going and her feet slipped away in the dry sand of the ruins' plain.  
>She didn't even bother to get up, he just sat in the dirt and completely broke down and cried unlike she ever had before.<p>

Sonic sped to her side and tried to pick her up, but she pulled her arm away from him.

"Please don't do this. You have to be strong now." Sonic pled.

"He was begging for help… Shadow would never call out like that." She murmured through her tears.

"And I know I need to get this spirit thing in order and all, but I'm just so scared." Sonic didn't know what to think of it; Rouge always seemed like a fortress of confidence to him, but now…

"It's okay to be scared. At least you are brave enough to admit fear." Sonic said sadly.

"I know I appear to be able to stare danger down, but I can be just as scared as anyone else."

Rouge pulled her friend into a tight embrace as tears continued to silently fall from her eyes.

"And that stupid echidna…" She said angered while wiping her cheeks.

"That's Knuckles for ya. "

Knuckles had distanced himself from the rest to think things over. He nervously tugged at the jewelry he had dangling from his neck while trying to keep himself from tearing up.

As a guardian he's supposed to be strong, fierce and stable. But he was also very lonely, but he forced himself to accept and enjoy the privacy.

While thinking over what Rouge said he felt something familiar; tears.

Normally he wouldn't allow himself to show such weakness, and this was already the second time she forced him to this.

He just buried his face in his arms and let it out.

Rouge and Sonic had come back to the rest of the group and noticed Knuckles was missing.

"He just walked away, Amy followed him to talk some sense in him." Tails explained. But Amy had different things on her mind, literally.

She was hearing silent whispers, meaning Agalma was telling her something.

The young girl chose a quiet spot not to near the group and concentrated on what she heard.

"I told you I'd make the assignments clear… There's heavy tension, now it's your chance to strike."

She heard the demon say.

"What do you-" "The Bat, she could become a great threat to me…" Amy prayed he wasn't going to ask what she thought it would be.

"Hold out your hands." As she did a silver rose appeared in them.

The flower's petals were made from onix, tiny sharp thorns ran down the crooked stem which also ended in a sharp point.

"Stick this between her wings as she sleeps. This will cause her to not being able to fuse…" Amy silently nodded.

"As you wish, Master…"

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_**Author's notes:  
><strong>_The group really seems to fall apart here...

And no, it's not turning into an angst-driven story. I just needed some conflict between the characters.  
>Why? You'll see ^^<p> 


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